: HITCHING A RIDE "Mom, I'm going for ice cream, does anyone else wanna come?" Isaac said as he headed for the door. "No, noone else wants to go, you go ahead though", Diana said. "Good." Isaac said to himself in a tone only he could hear. He wasn't really going for ice cream, he just needed to get out for a while, he had had a rough day and didn't feel like staying home with kids running around everywhere. It was about 8:00 at night as he headed for his car. He jumped inside and started it up, pulled out of the drive way and headed out. Isaac Hanson didn't know exactly where he was going, but he didn't care either, he just wanted to be alone. It was Friday and he had felt out of it all week, he didn't know why either. "God, it feels so good to get out and be alone, this way I can just breathe and think, I love my brothers and sisters but I just get tired of them, I don't even feel like I belong to this family sometimes", Isaac said, thinking out loud, "I just don't know whats happening to me it's like I'm not even there when I am". Isaac had been thinking alot like this for a long time, he was just so confused and didn't know why. He had been driving for like 50 minutes and didn't really know where he was, it seemed like he was on an endless highway "Its too quiet in here", Ike said as he started looking for a cd to put in, he decided on "The Craft" soundtrack, Ike put the cd in the player he had in his car and put it on number 6. Time passed and it was going on 10:00. "It's getting late, and my "wonderful" family might be getting worried, yeah right", Ike thought, "It's like they don't even care anymore, I don't even think they care if I live or if I freakin' die", Isaac was having those thoughts again. With that, Ike turned the car onto an exit, he had been driving on the highway all night. POP! "What the hell was that!" Ike yelled, suddenly the car started swirving and Isaac slamed on the breaks, his chest hit hard on the steering wheel with the force of the breaks. The car slamed to a complete stop and Ike got out of the car to see what the loud noice was. He then noticed it, he had a flat tire. "SHIT! God, just my luck, I'm out in the middle of god knows where, freezing my ass off and I've got a flat tire! Could things get any worse!" Ike said as he slammed his hands against the car and inhaled deeply letting his air go out slow, "Its okay, I'll just call mom and dad on the car phone, find out where the HELL I am and tell them to come get me" Ike said in the most aggrevated voice possible. He walked back to the car door, leaned his head in and reached for the car phone. "Where is it! Oh DAMN, Zac must've not put it back in the car last week when I had told him to!" "What the hell am I suppost to do NOW!" Ike yelled out. He slumped back in the car, freezing from being out of it so long. He crossed his arms and thought about what he was going to do. About 20 minutes passed and Isaac was getting tired and sort of fightened. Just then, he looked in his rear view mirror and noticed two head lights coming down the road. He jumped out of the car as fast as he could and started waving his hand all around trying to signal the far away car, truck, or whatever it was to stop. As it came closer to Isaac it started slowing down. It was a semi and a women was driving it. As it came to a stop, Isaac opened the passenger door and was about to speak when the woman said "Are you lost, do you need a ride somewhere?" "Yes", Ike said "I was driving and my tire hit something and it became flat." "Yeah, that seems to happen alot out here, well, I can't just leave you here now can I, why don't you get in and I'll take you to where you want to go, does that sound good?" The woman said. "Yes, that sounds great, thank you so much...Miss..." Ike trailed off "Just call me Pam", the woman said to Isaac. "Okay, thank you Pam" Isaac said, and with that he was in the car and ready to leave that dark highway. Pam looked like a woman in her middle fourties with greyish brownish hair that was sort of frizzy, she had brown eyes that were kind of squinty and whenever Issac looked into them, it reminded him of someone but he couldn't picture who. She was a little plump around the stomach area. She didn't look scary at all, in fact, Isaac felt sort of safe in her company, he felt like he knew her, but he couldn't figure out why. "So, where are you headed?" Pam asked "You obviously can't live in this county, your liscense plate said Tulsa, is that where you want to go?" she asked. "Yeah", Ike answered "I was just driving, and I didn't realize that I had driven so long and out of Tulsa, is it out of your way to go to Tulsa for me, I can pay you if you want me to." "Oh, no need to, I was going to pass through Tulsa anyway on my route, so it's fine" she said in an assuring voice that made Ike more at ease with taking a ride with someone he didn't even know. There was about ten minutes of silent riding when Pam broke it saying, "So, Isaac, do you ever feel like you don't belong?" Ike stared wide eyed at the woman wondering how she knew his name, knowing he didn't tell her, then thinking "Of course she knows my name, I'm famous, yeah, thats it...right?" "Um, yeah sometimes, how did you know my name?" Isaac said in curiosity, now he was sitting straight up. "Do you ever feel like you aren't even apart of the family that you've known so long?" Pam said, totally ignoring the question Isaac had everted to her. Isaac was sort of getting freaked out, because she knew exactly how he felt. "Do you ever wonder why you look distinctly different from all of your brothers and sisters, being as how there are so many, do you want me to tell you why you feel that way and look different? Would you like to know why I know so much about you and why I picked you out of all of the others that I could've given rides to? Don't look so surprised Isaac, I travel on many highways and I pass many cars that have had mishaps. The highway, isn't just some way of physical traveling, but it can be of mind traveling too Isaac, most people on these highways don't even know what they're doing on them, they don't just end up here as a means to travel, most of them just want to get away from their worlds, just like you did Isaac, you knew you weren't going for ice cream when you left your family, you were leaving to try to leave from your world for a few hours, knowing in your head that second that you pulled off the drive way that you didn't feel right...you knew something was going to happen, and you weren't going to wait for it, you were going to go to it." "So", Pam said while looking deep into the distant road ahead "Do you want to know why you feel the way you do, I can give you the answers that you've long since been waiting to hear you're whole life." "Yes." was all Isaac could say, he was so amazed and astounded at what this lady before him was saying, it was like she was practically reading his thoughts, he really wanted to know everything. Pam aknowledged his yes by saying "The reason you have this odd feeling inside of you like you don't belong and that you know there is something going on that you don't know about, something that seems like a dark secret that noone wants you to know is because I'm you're mother." Isaac couldn't believe what he just heard. "She just said that she was my mother...is this true?", he thought. Isaac took in a deep breath and just stared at the floor, waiting for her to go on, he then spoke up. "What do you mean, you're my mother, Diana is my mother...right?" Isaac was so confused, something he had gotten sort of used to. Pam glanced over at him and spoke. "You're questioning me, and I'm giving you the answer that is true, you don't have to believe me, but it is true, what I am saying to you is the truth, I suppose you want to know the whole story. Why, if I'm your real mother as I say I am, you have never seen me, but I could tell that you had a confused look on your face every time you looked into my eyes, like you knew me from somewhere but couldn't figure it out. I found out I was pregnant, I was only 16, your father...Walker was the same age. I was scared, we hadn't even finished high school yet. I wanted to get an abortion, but yet I wanted to have you, but yet I wanted to go to college and have a life, I didn't want to be beared down with the responsibilities of having to take care of a baby. Finally Walker convinced me to have you, he promised that he wouldn't run out on me, and that he would help me take care of you. After my parents found out I was pregnant, they kicked me out of their house and called me things like whore and cheap slut. The people at school weren't very different, I got kicked out of school when the principle found out. After I gave birth to you, I left you with Walker and fled, I was so scared, I had no where to go. Finally I was found by the police. I told them about my situation and was taken to a foster home. A year later, Walker found me and told me that he had gotten married to the woman he origionally loved, her name was Diana, he told me that he was keeping you and that he was going to raise you right. He left before I could say anything. Years passed and when you became famous, I thought that I should tell you." Isaac was blown away at all the information that he had soakd up the the 2 hours that he had been sitting there in that seat. Finally she pulled in the driveway of the house and Isaac spoke up "Pam, I don't remember telling you the address of my house." He looked at her with fright in his eyes, Pam took his hand, kissed it softly and whispered "I knew where you were coming from when you first started your drive." She released her hand from his and reached in her pocket and pulled out a picture, she handed it to Isaac and said "Don't look at it until you get inside your house." Isaac took the picture and got out of the truck, he ran inside of his house. When he opened the door he saw his father in the living room. Walker jumped up from his seat and ran over to his child, Isaac, and gave him a huge hug. "Where on earth have you been son, it's almost 1:00 in the morning, I missed you, I didn't know what happened to you, what did happen to you?" Walker asked with confusion and fright in his voice. "I had a flat dad, someone drove me home, I hitched a ride, but I need to ask you something." Ike stated "What is it, you hitched a ride?" Walker asked, now even more worried. Ike started, "Is Diana my real mother? Or is it a woman named Pam?" Walker's eyes were about to pop out of his now sweating face, he felt like he was about to jump out of his skin. "Uh...how did you know that?", he asked. "So it's true?" "Yes, how did you know?" Isaac realized that he had something in his hand, he looked at it and saw a picture of two people, one was Pam, the other was his father. "Look", Ike said, he handed his father the picture and Walker stared at it. After a moment of complete silence, Walker looked up at his son and asked, "Where did you get this picture from?" Ike answered his question almost right away "Pam gave it to me." "Isaac" Walker looked at his son with the palest face, as pale as bone. "Pam died when you were born."